Renton police make arrest after man stabbed in the brain

Updated 6:05 pm, Friday, January 8, 2016

Renton police arrested a 31-year-old man Thursday in connection with a New Year's Eve incident in which a man was stabbed in the skull at his apartment building.

Reports indicate the 31-year-old man was lying in wait for his newly ex-roommate after being kicked out of an apartment in the 200 block of Main Avenue South.

The assault occurred between the two sets of back doors that are both secure from the outside.

Two of the roommates who had shared the apartment with the 31-year-old were headed to the back doors to let in an acquaintance shortly before 8:30 p.m. Dec. 31, according to the probable cause report.

As the pair walked through the first doorway, the 31-year-old allegedly emerged and stabbed one of the men in the head. The knife was embedded in the man's head almost as far as the handle, reports say.

Incredibly, the stabbed man reportedly pulled the knife out and fought off the attacker together with his roommate and shut the first door so he was locked in the vestibule.

Responding officers and a police dog could not find the stabber, whom the roommates claimed was the 31-year-old man who had lived with them for several months.

Medics took the victim to Harborview Medical Center, where he was listed in critical and deteriorating condition with a life-threatening brain injury, according to the probable cause. The knife had penetrated the skull and severed an artery in the brain, causing a baseball-sized hemorrhage. The injury required surgery that included removing part of the brain associated with cognitive and motor functions.

Investigators identified the suspected assailant and eventually arrested him Thursday afternoon.